I Know You're in There
by Gwydion
Summary: "Raph! Snap out of it, man! Shredder's the enemy!" Their own brother had been turned against them, and Leo was determined to carry the burden of facing him alone. But sometimes a gentle voice has a greater impact than the swing of a sword.


Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

**I Know You're in There**

_"Raph! Snap out of it, man! Shredder's the enemy!"_

Everything had happened so fast, Leo was still having a hard time processing it all. But as he sat in the lair with only two brothers at his side and a foreign silence in the air, the harsh reality of the situation settled like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach.

The Shredder had taken Raphael and made him their enemy against his will.

_"You have to fight it, Raph!"_

As Donnie finally sighed and headed to his lab to try and find an antidote and Mikey quietly retreated to his room, the lone turtle's eyes narrowed. Their first encounter with their turned brother had been brief. They'd been greatly outnumbered, with Slash and Dr. Rockwell under the effects as well and even Shredder himself present, so they'd been forced to flee without Raph in tow. He had hated the idea, sick with worry over what the leader of the Foot Clan had in store for his new puppet, but there was nothing they could have done. He vowed that wouldn't be the case next time. Next time, he would be ready.

While already working on the beginnings of a plan, there was one thing he knew for sure; he and he alone would take on Raphael. All four of them were skilled ninjas, but he'd practiced with them all long enough to know that if their short tempered brother wasn't holding back, he was the only one capable of facing him. Even aside from that, he knew Raph would never forgive him if Leo let him harm one of their younger siblings in his brainwashed state.

_"I'm not done yet, so just leave them out of this!"_

Closing his eyes, he shook his head. No. He would never forgive Leo _or _himself. A dark cloud of guilt would be his constant companion.

Leo refused to allow that to happen.

As the weeks wore on, however, the burden of what he had to do only grew heavier. They had encountered Raph, accompanied by Rahzar, Fishface, and a hoard of Footbots, three times since, and none of the meetings had gone as planned. While he had managed to lure his brother into a one on one battle every time, he always found himself overpowered. He didn't know if it was because he was subconsciously holding back while Raphael came at him with the intent to kill or if his younger sibling truly was the stronger of the two, but every time he found his head nearly sliced right off his body by the deadly blades his brother now wielded in place of his sai. Every time he'd had to go on the defensive. Every time they'd had to retreat.

_"Come on, Raph! Please! You have to listen to me!"_

Donnie insisted that he was getting ever closer to creating an antidote to return Raph to his senses, but it was obvious he was just as anxious as Leo, often getting little to no sleep as he frantically ran more tests. Mikey, however, had taken it upon himself to try and lighten the mood as much as possible. Everyone knew he was just as worried as the rest of them, but Leo was grateful for the occasional distraction of a water balloon flying toward his face or being dragged over to the TV to watch some Space Heroes. Once, the youngest turtle had even tried suggesting Leo allow _him _to take on Raph instead, but as leader, he had shot down that idea immediately, assuring him that he could handle it.

But during their fifth battle, all of his doubts came back to haunt him as he again found Raph's soulless eyes staring down at him, gauntlets raised and ready to strike. His swords halfway across the room and no space to properly roll out of the way, his eyes widened with fear.

This was it. He was going to be killed by his own brother because he wasn't strong enough to save him.

"I know you're in there, Raph."

Leo was shaken back to his senses at his baby brother's calm voice, his kusarigama wrapped around Raph's arm, preventing him from striking. Quickly turning to face his new opponent, the red masked turtle promptly ignored the leader in favor of chasing down Mikey.

"Shredder's really messed with your head, huh?"

Scrambling to his feet, Leo instantly ran for his blades, his heart racing. He couldn't let Mikey fight this battle. Scooping the swords into his hands, he turned back, eyes darting around the room. He was slightly shocked to see that only Fishface and Raph remained of the Foot soldiers, Rahzar and over a dozen Footbots lying on the floor, unmoving. Donnie was holding his own against the fish mutant - no, winning, actually - while Mikey was locked with their brainwashed brother in a fierce battle.

Intent on jumping back in and taking his rightful place opposite of Raph's deadly weapons, Leo inched closer, waiting for the right moment. But as he studied the fight, it dawned on him that Mikey wasn't the one being driven back.

It was Raph.

"But it doesn't matter, bro. You know we'll forgive you for all of this, right?"

Stunned, he watched in awe as his youngest sibling expertly dodged and parried all attacks headed his way. He couldn't remember ever seeing the young turtle so focused, his unfailingly bright blue eyes tracking even the slightest muscle movement and using it to predict Raph's moves before he could make them.

But Mikey wasn't landing any hits, either. Instead all of his efforts seemed to be going toward disarming his opponent, of both his physical weapons and his stamina. And it was working. Raph had already lost one gauntlet, and his breaths were becoming more labored as he tried to muscle his way through the little turtle's defense. But Mikey kept right on going, his face and voice almost eerily calm given the situation.

"We don't blame you, dude. No matter what, you'll always be my big bro."

By now Donnie had finished with Fishface, and Leo had to hold out a hand, signaling for him to stop his advancement toward the last attacker standing. His younger brother had seemed confused at the order to stand down at first, but Leo could tell by the small gasp and widening of his brown eyes that he had noticed who the battle was favoring.

"I love you, man. We all do. Master Splinter, Donnie, Leo..."

Raph's movement grew more and more sluggish, and his angry cries lost a bit of their ferocity. As Mikey slowed to match his pace, Leo couldn't help but wonder what his little brother was thinking by refusing to take advantage of the situation. A knot of fear tightened in his chest, however, as he realized that the young turtle was nearly backed into a wall, that fear turning into all out panic as Mikey suddenly stopped and lowered his weapons with a smile.

"I trust you."

He instinctively felt more than saw Donnie rushing along side of him as Raph raised his remaining gauntlet to strike down their baby brother. And as the blade carved through the air, a desperate cry escaped from his mouth, knowing he was too late. But as his mind screamed, yelling at him for being so careless as to let Mikey take on Raph alone, he felt a hand grab his arm, halting his momentum. He glanced back at Donnie's unreadable face before turning back to the scene in front of him.

Raph had missed. The tips of the blades were dug deep into the wall directly to the right of the young turtle's head. He was breathing heavily through clenched teeth, something Leo could only describe as a low whine finally breaking the deafening silence.

"It's okay, Raph."

Letting out the breath that had caught in his throat, Leo watched as the nictitating membranes receded, revealing Raph's vivid, green eyes for the first time in almost a month. The hate filled look that had twisted his brother's features melted away as he hazily gazed ahead at his youngest sibling.

"...Mikey?"

As if saying that one word had zapped him of all his remaining strength, Raph's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes and his body pitched forward in exhaustion. Leo and Donnie quickly ran up to them as Mikey caught his older brother and lowered him gently to the ground. Watching as Donnie immediately started to take stock of Raph's physical state, their leader simply stared down at his brothers, his full attention shifting to the youngest who had his arms wrapped protectively around his big brother, quietly welcoming him back from his forced exile.

Mikey had done what he could not. Even beyond that, he'd done it without so much as breaking a sweat. He was calm, focused, two words one rarely used to describe the hyperactive teenager. But when all of Leo's training had failed, Mikey's soft, encouraging words and unshakable hope that Raph could hear them had triumphed. He hadn't tried to suppress his feelings, fearing them a distraction; he had used them to fuel his will to win and bring his brother back.

As Raph grumbled on the floor and Mikey laughed at him good naturedly, Leo felt an overwhelming sense of admiration wash over him. It was as if his baby brother had matured before his very eyes and yet managed to stay exactly the same. He had single-handedly overpowered one of their strongest, but he still stuck out his lip in a pout as Raph lightly smacked the back of his head. And as his three younger siblings all stood and turned to him, ready for his signal to leave the horrible nightmare of the past month behind, he hesitated, feeling a sudden need to properly voice how proud and utterly relieved he was.

"Come on, dude! Time to move! Sensei's gonna be so excited!"

But that could wait. Right now, they needed to get to the safety of the lair so they could look over Raph properly and continue searching for a cure for their mutant friends. But as he gave the order to move out, he couldn't help stealing a glance at Mikey's smiling face. Returning his gaze to the front, he felt a tug at the corner of his mouth as it slowly curled upwards, and he found himself barely able to hold his excited words of praise back.

* * *

A/N: I can't get too excited about Leo vs Raph. I like it and all, but I've seen it before. Mikey vs Raph, on the other hand, I'm dying to see. But as it probably won't happen, I felt compelled to write a quick something. It even got me to finally write another Leo story! This wasn't the "next one" I was referring to, but it wouldn't let me ignore it.

As always, critics and grammar police appreciated!


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